Show #29: Music to Dream By, Pt. 2

This week, Rhythm Planet completes the playlist so far of music to dream by. We begin with the dizzy, vertiginous classic “Aquarium” by French composer Camille Saint-Saens, follow this with the powerful Tunisian singer Dhafer Youssef, here paired with a small string section. He was going to be a prayer-caller, but after hearing fellow Tunisian oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem, he decided to follow his muse and sing. Based in Paris, he has worked with Huong Thanh, Paolo Fresu, and other progressive artists on the Parisian scene.

David Sylvian is been a favorite of mine for two decades. I find his voice, while certainly not perfect, to be very moving. Here he works with the quarter-tone trumpet maestro Jon Hassel, and German wunderkind Holger Czukay. Kinan Azmeh, a classically-trained Syrian clarinet player with a sound as big and deep as the Grand Canyon, paired with another Juilliard graduate, the Sri Lankan pianist Dinuk Wijeratne.

Next is the transcendent Turkish music of Erkan Ogur and Ismail Demircioglu on an album I once found at Amoeba Music and which has always entranced me. Rhythm Planet wraps up with another track by Tunisian singer Dhafer Youssef, his Wine Ode: In the Name of Love. Finally, the 1978 album of Harold Budd, produced by Brian Eno, has a title that perfectly describes this show: The Pavilion of Dreams.